


Orange Lights

by shyravenns



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Creatures & Monsters, Angst, F/F, F/M, Fluff, Gen, M/M, Post BoO, Slightly - Freeform, Teenagers, Underage - Freeform, mermaid leo
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-05
Updated: 2016-05-05
Packaged: 2018-06-06 11:28:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6752116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shyravenns/pseuds/shyravenns
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Nico is stranded during a quest and decides that maybe not all monsters are inherently evil.</p><p>Or where Nico is part of the seven and Leo is a carnivorous merman with an appetite for puns and staring at cute demigods who look sort of yummy</p>
            </blockquote>





	Orange Lights

**Author's Note:**

> First story in about three years! So, yeah enjoy and tell me what you think! This is also UnBetaed so forgive any mistakes of mine that seem careless.

It’s not that Nico wants to leave the island. It’s not even the fact that he wishes he could leave. It’s based more off of the fact that he can’t and that he’s tried. Physically he’s fine. A quick stretch of his limbs tells him that and he breathes softly in relief because a broken bone is the last thing that he needs right now. 

Mentally he’s not better off. A little pissed maybe, but still intact if not for the nightmares that plagued him, but those are what he’s used to by now.

No. He’s not pissed. He’s livid. Livid at the island he’s stuck on and livid at the cloudless sky in which he’s been staring at for the better half of gods know when. Okay he might be a little annoyed, but it’s the same principle and he won’t say anything else on that matter. A breeze rolls by carrying the scent of sea salt and fish with it and the sand in his shoes aren’t better. He’s covered with minor scratches and bruises, but he’s seen worse and he knows what to do about them even.

Sitting up with outstretched legs, he tries to recall what happened before and frowns with slight distaste at the memory. Pain. Roaring. Yelling. And Percy. His breathe doesn’t catch in his throat whenever he thinks of him anymore and he’s glad of it despite everything else. Percy falling and Annabeth looking scarily gone and him begging to be there and lead them. 

He swallows back the knot in his throat and tries not to think. Green eyes blazed at him with exhausted fury as they screamed to let him go and to help the others. The guilt isn’t washed away easily and Nico wishes he still had done something-anything to at least bring them home. He shudders and feels his heart start to calm despite the horrible pace it had picked up when he thought back to when.

Brushing it aside carefully and planning to go on, he glances around and slowly gets up on his feet. Shaking one foot to get the tingle out of the it and again thanking whatever being had wished him luck that he had not been hurt severely. Giants and him don’t exactly mix. 

At one point he decides to stop checking out the island. The sea stretches back as far as he can see and sun shines down on his so heavily that he takes off his jacket within minutes and throws it on the ground beneath the shading of trees and flora. Bright flowers are open to him in a myriad of colors and the dense undergrowth looks soft to the touch, but the darkness that spills into the jungle unnerves him and he’s thankful for the heavy weight of his sword at his side and of the sharp dagger that bounces along his hip in it’s sheath. Stepping into the shade and shading his eyes with his hand, he swallows back a prickle of apprehension at the endless sea. He wonders where the ship is and where everybody is at, but he knows that they’re too far gone by now to be any of use. A cave opens not to far from here and he’s already planning on how to contact people and places.

Shadowtravel doesn’t work. Weather it’s the irony of it all or maybe he’s just sick, but he can’t travel anywhere. He doesn’t know where he’s at or even what part of the ocean he’s in, but he knows he’s screwed either way. Fruit dangles at the tips of the trees and quick motion of a shadow brings it down to him and as he rests underneath the shade near a clear pool of deep water he ponders what he has to do next. 

Fire. Shelter. And Food. Those are his main priorities and he hopes that he’s saved up enough Drachma for an Iris Message. A slow clinking in his pocket assures that, but they don’t sound as enough as he had hoped.  

A splash of water from far away doesn’t excite his attention, but as it becomes more patternly that’s when he starts to get worried. Gripping the handle on his sword and feeling the same rush before a battle he puts down the fruit that’s already too sweet on his tounge and slowly gets up. 

“Hello?” his voice is calm within the slight gloom of the forest behind him and he carefully begins to walk towards the beach. It didn’t sit well with him to have his back to the darkened shrubbery. Nothing happens except for the faint stirring of bugs and the slight groaning of the trees as the leaves slap against each other. Slowly straightening his back and narrowing his eyes and he surveys the area with a well practiced eye and soft motioning of his sword. “Nothing then….”

Despite his own assurances he still feels as though he’s being watched. He shakes the feeling as quickly as he can and reminds himself that he’s an unknown island in an unknown area with unknown monsters prowling. Fuck. 

Shaking his head and starts toward the expanse of the sea as he patrols. He’s slightly on edge with unknown fears leading him on and slight paranoia of the dark as it approaches. The sun is still high in the sky yet it seems to not be as hot as before. Sweat beading on his temple from the walk near the cave he swallows back some spit in hopes of calming himself. Noting that nothing seems to be amiss he heads back toward his makeshift camp in hopes that the fruit would calm him down even more since the wind seemed to be raging even more fiercly. The island is pretty, yes, but he doesn’t exactly have time to admire the view. Going back through the trees to where his jacket’s been left and hoping that he could get back to the cave he saw he pauses as sounds of sniffing and scratching come from behind the tree. 

Smiling faintly and feeling the pound of his heart in his head and put his back to the tree away from the creature and unsheathes his sword with careful hands. The black blade glints beneath the dappled shadows of the tree and seems even more ominous than before. Turning his head towards the sounds of growling and sniffing, he breathes in to watch through. Gathering up his courage, he raises the sword and begins to charge before he stops at the sight before him.

It’s a boy. Not a boy exactly, but somewhere near his age. Wide brown eyes watch him through cat like slits and a mouth full of shark teeth are open in a small ‘o’. Dark brown skin is rich and is similar to that of Hazel’s (Nico winces as he thinks of her) and chocolate brown hair covers his face and styled back as if he pushed his fingers through once. He’s….nice looking. In a weird sort of ethereal way. His skin is shiny as if wet and his fingers has claws on the end of them. Gills breathe on the side of his neck and Nico shudders at the red stains on his teeth. The water next to him laps at his feet. With a slight jolt Nico realizes that he’s almost naked save for the pale cargo shorts. Nico tries not to call him cute or else the blush on his face might have told him so.

Nico almost forgets his nerve before his face hardens’. He raises the sword to the face of the boy and growls through gritted teeth as the boy drops his jacket and puts his arms out in a surrender pose. 

“H-hey! Sorry ‘bout that back there! Just curious! You know we don’t see a lot of demikids out here and well-“ His voice is high pitched and slightly elvish.

Nico stops him as he taps the point of his sword onto his chest. “What are you?” He’s genuinely curious.

Brown eyes’ eyes flicker toward the sword and back and Nico raises an eyebrow. The boy is smaller than him and it helps in this situation. “Me? I’m a human…thing. What about you?”

“I asked first.”

“I asked second.”

Nico feels an oddly irritated itch behind his neck. “Listen-“

“Okay! I’m not exactly human! Or ya know….Look sorry about this, you just looked so weird sitting out here alone and I-“ The boy stops for a moment before his head jolts up like a cat. His eyes are wide and staring into the distance for some sound Nico can’t hear and his gills move slightly. He shakes his head and frowns apologetically. “Dinner’s calling!”

For the first time, Nico feels an odd twinge of panic and it must have shown on his face for the boy grins evilly and raises a hand. “You’re a demigod aren’t you?”

Nico sniffs in reply not daring to make a word. “Knew it.” The boy laughs for a moment before staring at is with wide eyes. “Are you on that quest thing you guys do all the time? You know what? I’ll ask later. See you around bat boy!”

“Wait!” It’s too late for Nico to respond before the boy in front of him pushes back his sword with an easy wave of his hand knocking it out and runs towards the beach. 

Nico, with shock plastered on his face grabs his sword and chases after in, heart hammering in his chest and neck wet with sweat and apprehension. The boy stops near the water and turns to face him. The wind has stopped momentarily and the sun is against his eyes, but Nico doesn’t have much strength to bother with it. Brown eyes makes it into the ocean with a wave of his hand vanishes under the waves before popping up later in the near distance.

“See ya later! The name is Leo by the way! I’ll see you tonight babe!” With that he turns tail and with a bright flash of color goes beneath the depths and never emerges again. 

Nico stands there for what seems like an eternity as he tries to process what the hell just happened. He swears to himself that he’s not high or drunk and looks around to see that the Sun is just about to fall. With a silent acknowledgement towards whatever he had seen and whatever he’s about to see, he decides not to think about it as his head starts to hurt and he realizes that he has yet to make an Iris Message to his sister and her friends. Taking out the coins from his pocket and continuing to stare back out into the ocean he stops at his ‘camp.’

It doesn’t take long for Nico to walk to realize that his jacket’s gone missing and that his fruit has been stolen.

Shit.


End file.
